Various routine and more complex medical procedures are often required to be performed which are invasive of the skull. Although some procedures may be considered to be relatively routine in nature, all invasive procedures necessarily involve a degree of risk. This risk is enhanced when the procedure is invasive of the skull given the potential damage that may be incurred to the brain and the seriousness of the potential consequences of any unforeseen complications.
For example, the medical procedure may require the insertion of a drain through a patient's skull in order to access the ventricular system of the brain. The drain may be utilized to siphon off cerebrospinal fluid within the ventricles in order to relieve pressure caused by brain swelling. In a further example, the medical procedure may require the insertion of a needle or catheter through a patient's skull in order to access a hematoma, abscess or other fluid-filled structure requiring evacuation.
In order to perform any of these various medical procedures, access must first be gained through the skull. In each of these examples, access to the brain or other anatomical structures within the skull is typically achieved by drilling through the skull. Drilling through the skull must be performed with precision to avoid any potential damage to the brain and other structures located in close proximity to the inner surface of the skull cap. Further, the hole or pathway drilled through the skull is required to be placed accurately in order to permit the successful performance of the subsequent necessary medical procedure.
Thus, it is desirable to provide persons intending to perform such medical procedures with an opportunity to train or practice the procedures without any risk to the patient.
For this purpose, it is desirable to provide a training model comprising a skull section, which permits training in one or both of the drilling of the skull and the subsequent procedure to be performed, such as the insertion of a ventricular drain or evacuation of a hematoma. Such a training model would provide medical practitioners with valuable experience in both routine procedures and in the handling of complications which may arise. Preferably, the training model provides a simulated environment which mimics or closely imitates the conditions of the procedure.
Numerous anatomical training models have been developed to assist in the training of medical practitioners in various procedures.
For instance, many training models provide artificial or simulated arms or legs for teaching medical and nursing students correct techniques for injections or the collection of blood. Examples are provided by the following: U.S. Pat. No. 2,689,415 issued Sep. 21, 1954 to Haver; U.S. Pat. No. 3,789,518 issued Feb. 5, 1974 to Chase; U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,054 issued Jan. 8, 1980 to Wise et. al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,215,469 issued Jun. 1, 1993 to Kohnke et. al.; and International Publication WO 2005/122105 A2 published Dec. 22, 2005 by Choudhery et. al.
Artificial or simulated limbs are also provided for other training purposes, including the training of peripheral bypass surgery in a saphenous vein as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,945,056 issued Aug. 31, 1999 to Day et. al. and the training of endoscopic saphenous vein harvesting as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,997,719 issued Feb. 14, 2006 to Wellman et. al., Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,790 issued Oct. 19, 1999 to Strover et. al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,361,729 issued Mar. 26, 2002 to Strover et. al. provide a model simulating a natural anatomical joint for training surgical techniques including arthroscopic surgery.
Further training models provide artificial or simulated breast tissue including lumps, cysts or other lesions for training the locating and aspirating of a breast cyst or the performance of a needle biopsy. Examples are provided by the following: U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,746 issued Sep. 8, 1998 to Barrie et. al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,485,308 issued Nov. 26, 2002 to Goldstein; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,941 issued May 27, 2003 to Goldstein.
In addition, many training models provide a simulation model of a body or chest cavity or torso, in which are placed various artificial or simulated organs or structures, for training the diagnosis and/or treatment of specific conditions. Thus, the operative, surgical or other procedures to be trained by these models are all performed wholly or substantially within the chest, body or abdominal cavity.
Examples are provided by the following: German Publication No. DE4212908 published Oct. 21, 1993 by Nuemann; U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,865 issued Sep. 27, 1988 to Baldwin; U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,188 issued Oct. 29, 1991 to McCollum; U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,407 issued May 21, 1996 to Greenfield et. al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,326 issued Apr. 15, 1997 to Younker; U.S. Pat. No. 5,951,301 issued Sep. 14, 1999 to Younker; U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,804 issued May 22, 2001 to Yong; U.S. Pat. No. 6,780,016 issued Aug. 24, 2004 to Toly; International Publication WO 2005/071639 A1 published Aug. 4, 2005 by Bunegin et. al.; and International Publication WO 2005/088583 A1 published Sep. 22, 2005 by Stoianovici et. al.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,812 issued Jan. 8, 2002 to Cooper et. al. provides an apparatus for the training of various surgical or clinical techniques, wherein the apparatus includes a housing providing a simulation of a body part and an internal body structure for reception in the housing. More particularly, Cooper et. al. describes a housing resembling a human abdominal cavity and an internal body structure simulating a gall bladder and other abdominal organs, vessels and structures. Although Cooper et. al. contemplates that this training apparatus may be extended to other parts of the body, including the brain, no details are provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,526 issued Jun. 5, 2001 to Auran et. al. provides a training model including a simulated side profile of a child's head and shoulder area, which includes a replica of an ear drum and ear canal. The model is used for training physicians in the procedure of tympanocentesis for treating certain child ear infections.
U.S. Publication 2007/0020598 A1 published Jan. 25, 2007 by Yamashita et. al. provides a nasal model for training endoscopic sinus surgical procedures. The nasal model is comprised of a nasal unit, which is mounted in a simulated face and trunk to allow more realistic surgical training. The nasal unit includes a bone part fitted with right and left ethmoid sinus parts. At least one of the ethmoid sinus parts includes an ethmoid sinus that can be incised and irreversibly broken during surgical manipulation.
Finally, U.S. Publication 2006/0184005 A1 published Aug. 17, 2006 by Sakezles, U.S. Publication 2006/0253761 A1 published Nov. 9, 2006 by Sakezles and U.S. Publication 2007/0003916 A1 published Jan. 4, 2007 by Sakezles describe a number of synthetic anatomical models that are designed to enable simulated use testing of medical devices. The complexity of the models is designed to allow the model to be substituted for either a live animal or an animal or human cadaver in the testing of the medical device. One of the models provided is a neurovasculature model comprising a brain component.
Therefore, there remains a need in the industry for a training model for use in training to perform a medical procedure which is invasive of a skull. Further, there remains a need for a training model comprising a skull section which simulates the skull. As well, there remains a need for a training model which permits training in a medical procedure such as one or both of the drilling of the skull and the performance of a subsequent procedure directed at an anatomical structure or target within the skull.